{"id":12688,"date":"2015-07-26T14:11:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-26T14:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yaabot.com\/?p=12688"},"modified":"2015-07-26T14:11:17","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T14:11:17","slug":"solar-vs-nuclear-what-energy-future-are-we-headed-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entropymag.co\/solar-vs-nuclear-what-energy-future-are-we-headed-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar vs Nuclear Power: What Energy Future Are We Headed for? (Updated 2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
As the world grapples with the increasing demand for electricity, two major contenders have emerged as potential solutions – solar energy and nuclear power. In this blog, we explore the key differences between solar vs nuclear power and what implications they have for our energy future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As humans, we have appointed ourselves as saviors of the planet, while also causing major harm to it through our activities and choices.<\/span> A significant fraction of our species wants us to cut down on the frankly scary amount of waste we spew into our atmosphere, while another economically-oriented fraction wants us to focus on meeting our enormous energy needs first\u00a0– all this while some of us are still ignorant about the detrimental effects of conventional fuels, climate change or even sustainable development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the popular choices for alternative sources of energy are solar energy, wind energy and nuclear power. Solar energy is a great way to go about generating clean energy. Some of the biggest buildings owned and designed by tech firms, like the Tesla Gigafactory and the new Google headquarters at the Bay View Campus<\/a> are powered by solar energy. But there’s merit in the argument that you can’t have enough solar power generated for all of us. Which is why, there’s nuclear power to look at. Nuclear power is a rockstar in the sense that it generates\u00a0multiple times\u00a0<\/em>more power per unit input mass, and is pretty much as clean as any other source, provided waste disposal is done correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Related<\/strong>: The Rise & Rise of SolarCity<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n So which one do we go for? Which power source will shape humanity’s future? Let’s look at the economics of both:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As compared to current conventional grid energy costs, which can go up to 32 cents\/kWh<\/a> in major US cities, solar energy costs just about 7-10 cents\/kWh. The goal is to reduce this furthermore to around 3 cents\/kWh by 2030<\/a>. This is primarily possible because of government subsidies in virtually every country. Along with this, the swift decline in production costs of solar panels has assisted the cause. \u00a0However, is it better than nuclear energy? Is solar energy the future?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us look closer to find what the future for humanity is and compare solar vs nuclear power.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers play the game here.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us consider the biggest power plants for both solar power and nuclear power. The Bhadla Solar Park in India spans over 14,000 acres and is the largest solar power plant in the world. It cost US $1.3billion to construct the plant in 2017.\u00a0 On the other hand, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power in Japan took ~$520 million in the early 1980s when it was built. The facility is built over an area of ~1,037 acres. The energy costs will be much lower as time passes but even after 20 years, nuclear power plant is cheaper.<\/span> Adjusted for current costs and inflation, the largest nuclear power plant in the world would have taken roughly $1.5 billion. On the other hand, the largest solar-power facility in the world would cost $1.6 billion. While the Bhadla Solar Park has a capacity of 2245 MW, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear power plant has a total capacity of ~8000 MW with 7 boiling water reactors (BWRs) spread across the area. We thus see that the output of the larger nuclear park is way higher than that of the largest solar energy source in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right now, solar energy costs about 7-10 \u00a2\/kWh, which can further be optimized with the growing subsidies and incentives being offered to the masses.<\/span> On the other hand, nuclear energy costs about 0.4 euro \u00a2\/kWh or close to 0.44 \u00a2\/kWh<\/a>. This is way lower than the current costs of solar energy. The efficiency of a nuclear plant is in the region of 33%. A solar plant has an uninspiring 11-15% efficiency. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\nFinances<\/span> : Solar vs Nuclear Power<\/h2>\n\n\n\n